Black Buck Antelope Hunt - Sonora Texas

We were back on the “McPherson 4M Ranch” which is 16 miles south of Sonora Texas.  It is a short 3 hours from San Antonio and the Ranch is over 12,500 acres in size.   This time on the ranch we were searching for an exotic animal called the Black Buck Antelope.  Black Buck’s are from India and parts of Pakistan and Nepal.  

Daniel Sowell, a great friend of mine, and I were making an afternoon hunt and we left the McPherson 4M Ranch headquarters at 2:45pm.  Cody, the Ranch Foreman took us to the Exotic hunting area and set us up in a blind that was raised 10 feet into the air.  From that vantage point we could see for miles.  We were only there for about 30 minutes and there were animals far in the distant field.  They were female black bucks, there must have been 20 of them and they were crossing the valley is a moderate pace.  Males were probably there but we did not see them.   The Mesquite trees had lost their leaves and we could see them fairly clearly.

 While we were looking to the East at these animals crossing the open area, another herd of Black Buck moved in behind us.  They were much closer to the blind and we quickly saw two nice Males in the group that were dark brown and or black in color on their backs with two horns that twist or corkscrew to sharp points.   These males were very distinctive, they were dark colored over their backs and shoulders.  Their bellies and the inside of their legs were white.  They had white rings around the eyes and mouth.   There were only two Black Bucks with these characteristics.  The does are reddish brown in color and they do not have these impressive horns.  There were 15-20 does in this herd.

 

We quickly changed our positioning in the blind which included moving our camera equipment.  Cesario Garcia was our cameraman and we shot the entire hunt on HD Video.   We were tracking the dominant male and he was strutting across the area, and then around his herd of females and then back across the area in front of us.  He was essentially herding his animals and letting them know that he is the top of the hierarchy.   

  

We made plans to take the shot the next time he came across the area in front of us.   I was ready, kneeling on my right knee and aiming the 30-ot-6 thru the narrow opening of the window.  Daniel was glassing the area and he and I could feel the growing anticipation of the next moment.   A younger reddish brown male with 8 inch horns walked into view from the thick Mesquite trees.  He stood there for 20 seconds and looked directly at us.  We waited, he then began moving right to left and as predicted the shooter Black Buck Male came strutting into view.  He was walking steadily and we knew that we could not make a shot while he was on the move.   Daniel knocked twice on the wood wall of the blind and he stopped and looked directly at us.  We were 130 yards from him.  He told me to take the shot and I did.  It was a good shot and the animal jumped into the air and then went to the ground.  It was a good kill.

 Hunters Notes:

Black Buck Antelope inhabit open grasslands.  During mating season, the males will strut with a comical mincing gait with the head tossed upward and their horns flattened along their backs.  We did not see this dramatic activity but we did capture the strut on video.   Black Buck herds prefer open grassy areas and tend to avoid heavy forested areas or really rugged terrain.  They graze the edges of patches of low brush and trees so they have access to cover if needed.  In India and Nepal, they are the fastest mammals.  They can outrun all of their predators.  They can reach speeds of 50 miles per hour and sustain those speeds if needed.  They are very wary animals, have excellent eye sight and hearing  and therefore they can spook easily.   As we targeted these animals on this hunt, often they would stop their grazing and look up directly at us.  We were quiet but they were alert and very aware of their surroundings. 

It was a fantastic afternoon hunt.

Visit the McPherson website at www.mcpherson4mranch.com.    Contact the McPherson Ranch at (210) 822-2915 or via Email: info@mcpherson4mranch.com.   

They can provide you a great adventure and with the hunt of a lifetime.

Thanks for your Time Today………………. and I’ll see You in the Outdoors !!

Dave

White Tail Buck Hunt - Sonora Texas

Daniel Sowell and I hunted the “McPherson 4M Ranch” in search of a nice White Tail Buck.  We were 16 miles south of Sonora Texas.  We left the ranch house at 6:30am and the mercury was at 26 degrees Fahrenheit.  We were hunting toward the end of the mating season, the rut.   During the rut, males will spar, or fight, to determine a dominance hierarchy.    Bucks will attempt to copulate with as many females as possible.  

The area we hunted offered some longer shots, up to 175 yards, and an average shot of 100 yards.   Today we shot the hunt on HD video and Cesario Garcia was our in-field cameraman.    We set up in a blind and waited for the black of the morning to turn to day-break.  As we slowly were able see what was in front of us, we realized that there were already animals in the field.  We had 4 doe and 3 younger bucks in the field of vision.  The bigger bucks were staying in the back, behind the tree-line.   

We know that because they came in from far behind the feeder in front of us.  Three mature deer with nice racks slowly came into our area.  They were weary and moved in very slowly.  We identified that one of the animals was more mature and he proved to be the dominant buck in the group.  The others gave him space and he even had some backing up as he changed his direction of movement.   

 

 He was leaving the field we were hunting in a quick pace and we were concerned that we would lose our opportunity.  Daniel and I tracked him with the 30-ot-6 and binoculars.  He finally stopped and turned broadside toward us.  Deer around him had cleared and I took the shot.  It was a clean shot and he dropped right where he stood and remained motionless.   I drew a deep breath after the shot and thanked Daniel for the opportunity to hunt the McPherson Ranch again.  

 

Hunters Notes:
White Tail deer can run up to 36 miles per hour, they can jump up to 8.5 feet and they can leap as far as 30 feet.  They are a truly amazing animal.   The 8 point buck that we shot had been fighting during the rut.  One of his brow tines was broken but the remainder of his antlers were intact.  He was the dominant buck in this area.  There are many factors that determine how intense the rutting season will be.  Air temperature is one of the major factors for this intensity.   Whenever the air temperature rises above 40 degrees Fahrenheit, the males will do a lot less traveling looking for females.  This morning was cold and the prior 5 days were in the mid teens in the early am hours.  Deer were active and they were near the end of the rut in this part of Texas.    All in all, it was a great hunt.

Visit the McPherson website at www.mcpherson4mranch.com.    Contact the McPherson Ranch at (210) 822-2915 or via Email: info@mcpherson4mranch.com.   
They can provide you a great adventure and with the hunt of a lifetime.
Thanks for your Time Today………………. and I’ll see You in the Outdoors !!
Dave

Aransas Pass – w Billie Kocian—Pre-Front Fishing

Billie Kocian and I left Aransas Pass to find some Redfish and Trout.  We fished with soft plastics from Mister Twister.   We worked the flats drift fishing and covering water.  This proved to be a solid day on the water.  

  

We caught nice trout and some really great Redfish as well.   The wind was strong in the morning and it tapered off in the late afternoon as the Northern Blew in.  The plan was to make parallel drifts across the flats of Steadmans and Dagger.  Both produced fish of caliber but the schools of Redfish were predominately inside Dagger.   

 Billie has a Haney Bay Boat---A Cat Boat that will run skinny.  We worked from the raised aluminum decks that enabled us to really find the fish and sight case some of them along our drift path.  We shot it all on HD and Cesario Garcia was our main cameraman.

 Anglers Note---

When fishing in front of a front, the fish can really be active.  We looked at Underground Weather and looked for the hour-by hour-forecast.  It showed that the northern would blow in sometime on Saturday evening.  Fishing just ahead of a Northern can be rock solid.  The fishing was excellent until the glassy water showed up.  What I mean by that is the wind died down and ultimately stopped blowing out of the predominant direction of the South-West.  The winds are generally always out of the South-West in this part of the Texas coastline.  Once they stopped blowing and went lull, we experienced a shift to the winds out of the North.  When that happened, the bite was off like a light switch.  If you can plan you fishing around pre-front fishing, you will catch more fish.  Knowledge is power on the water.

Contact Captain Billie Kocian at 1-361-688-8859 and she can put you on fish too.

Thanks for your time today and I’ll see you on the water !!

Dave

Exotic Hunt – Senora Texas

Daniel Sowell and I hunted the Senora Texas area in search of an Exotic.  We hunted the McPhearson Ranch in Sutton County. We were targeting an Exotic Ram called a Corsican Ram.  Conditions were not ideal, we had a full moon for the last three nights, we had a tremendous season of acorns that provide a food source and the mesquite trees had not dropped their leaves yet.  Conditions were tough to find these animals in the 3000 section of the ranch that we were hunting.

We set up early in the morning in an area where a pasture in front of us had a steep drop-off into a large bowl shaped area to the South.  These animals are rock climbers and we anticipated that they would come up to us thru the steep terrain.   There were White Tail and Fallow deer in the pasture in a very short time.  We were observing their behavior closely.  They will often look hard in the direction of oncoming animals.  That is exactly what happened.   A nice 9 point White Tail was looking in one direction for almost 30 seconds motionless.  That is text-book for new animals approaching the area.

A herd of 9 or so Corsican entered the pasture in search of water.  We were hunting an area that had a man made well to provide water to the animals in this part of the ranch.   It did not take Daniel and I long to get a bead on this nice Male Ram.

Hunters Notes:

Corsican Rams are really hybrid sheep.  Males mature at 1.5 years of age while females reach maturity as early as 7 months.  They are usually brown in color with horns that can vary from a tight curl to broad spiral curl.  Most of the time they will have a tight curl but sometimes they do flair out like the one we hunted.  The Corsican Ram is the most commonly hunted exotic animals in the United States.  They are brown, reddish, or tan with an attractive black main in front of their necks.  A mature Corsican Ram will weigh as much as 125 lbs.  These animals are from the West Indies.  They originated in Texas approximately 40 years ago on the infamous Y.O. Ranch.

When mature, males fight to determine dominance and hierarchy.  They are very aggressive among one another.  Rams butt heads vigorously to prove their dominance.  Usually they move as a heard and consist of a dominant male and possibly a few other younger males and a larger group of females.  They form a tight flock when disturbed and then flee from danger as a group.  They are most active in the early and late hours of the day and they seek shelter amongst trees, in brush, and inside ravines during harsh weather conditions.

We shot this hunt in High Definition Video and Cesario Garcia was our cameraman.  It was a great hunt.

Thanks for your time today and well see you in the Outdoors.

Nearshore and Back Bay

 Rich Gidrey and I left Billings bait stand outside of Corpus Christy in search of some Hot Rod-bending action.   That is exactly what we found.  The winds were light and therefore we headed offshore, actually Nearshore to see what the Rigs in the Gulf of Mexico were holding.

Rich’s 24.5 foot Mako was great for the rough water at the mouth of the Packery Channel that led us to the open water of the Gulf of Mexico.  We were using live Piggy Perch and a few Croker.   

 

We caught some amazing Ling in the 55 foot water and the action was fast and furious.  We then went back-bay and caught some great Redfish and Trout.  We captured it all on HD video since Tony T was onboard for the shoot.

Anglers Note:

When you have light winds, consider going Nearshore for Big Fish.  We used Bay fishing tackle and had to really work the technique to land these big monsters.  Rich and I used 8- foot Soldier Bay rods what were Medium Heavy with a fast tip.  The line we used was 30 lb Power Pro braided line.  

We were broke off several times but we used the team approach to land the fish that we caught.  This involves the angler that is hooked up making a best effort to pull the fish from the rig.  He will instinctively try to go back up under the rig, if that occurs, you will be broken off.  The team approach involves the angler that is not hooked up, starting the big motor and drive the boat away from the rig to assist the angler in the heat of battle.  We caught two amazing Ling in 45 minutes and then headed for the back bay and loaded the boat with Redfish and Trout.   This time of year can produce excellent fishing. 

Knowledge is power on the water.

Thanks for your time today and I’ll see you on the water.

Dave